Philosophy Now Forum

Okay, read this from Nobel laureate for economics Paul Krugman of The New York Times: "The central cause of the profession's failure was the desire for an all-encompassing, intellectually elegant approach that gave economists a chance to show off their mathematical prowess."

There is a lot of Logic and Philosophy of Mathematics occurring in economics. It is not just a political exercise as you may have thought.

I am a subscriber for 12 years of PN magazine. So I consider myself a money contributor and supporter of this form.

I don't understand this question.

All very interesting but my question was why bring it up in a thread on the philosophy of mathematics? Why not post it as a topic about economics and finance elsewhere?
Fair enough. Let's see if you get a response as I presume you may be entitled.

For myself the reason is obvious why a philosophy forum would have a category on Logic, not sure about the maths but since they've said the "philosophy of maths" I can accept it. Especially since at least two philosophers have made major contributions to maths and two more, major philosophical contributions to the subject.

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What's a'monitor wit choo!?

Logic and mathematics is utilized to establish theories and models of human behavior. Economics, more than any discipline, relies on models to determine and explain what is going on in the market place. Hence my bring up economics in this thread.

I have tried to explain the existence and application of Logic and the Philosophy of Mathematics. However, nobody else has. So, what are some of the other areas in which Logic and the Philosophy of Mathematics used? Geography?

Moreover, there isn't any life more fundamental or central that economic life. Therefore every thread is applicable to it, including this one.

Wrong. You are an idiot. Philosophy wasn't designed in Any way. And people can start a thread for any topic they want; people don't have to comment onthem though.

This is an interesting paradox but it is merely a discursive illusion.

The fact that Meno could come up with the paradox means that there existed elements of his consciousness which had access to such relations of logic. If he had no such aptitude he could not have known that such a paradox could be constructed. The paradox is his because he had an aprioiri condition of knowledge that gave him the paradox.
I, On the other hand have no such knowledge of such a paradox for the meaning of the addressed statement (we only know what we already know) but only that the paradox makes sence if one does not know what he does not know (denial).

As to a philosophy of math:
Here is a proposal that is philosophical and has to do with math:
The operations of mathematical symbols only reflect a valid operation in their basic relations. Once interpretation takes place, math has been removed from actual presentation (identity) of the phenomenon and thereby reflects re-presentation (equasion).
Equasion is the human interference in identity, such that what may be identical is removed from its basic state of affairs and placed in a subsequent arena of states where the affairs accord with human agenda.

The problem posed is the problem solved for any given awareness of intent. The intent is posed in the form of a question with a 'hanging equals'. The identity is denied in the effect of the human interference and interpreted as cause and effect (human pre-eminance).

How's that for some philosophy of math?

In the mainstream this is what's generally been accepted as the topics in the philosophy of maths. But I accept that things can change.

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/philo ... thematics/

Furthermore, I would say that contemporary economics is the culmination of philosophy of mathematics. I begrudgingly thank PN forum and Arising_uk for my realizing that.

No doubt that comes from a juvenile.

That is one of the problems with this forum. There are too many juveniles and juvenile thinkers on it.

Have you been at the Postmodernism generator, by any chance? http://www.elsewhere.org/pomo/

Is that what my brain is? Yes, indeed :aaaaaaahhhh the wonders of a post-modern generator. It is fun though; no?

Philosophy of Mathematics is equivalent to analytical philosophy. It specializes, like economists do.

Now, I was wondering, does the Philosophy of Mathematics prove that communism was doomed to failure?

Logic and mathematics must be inextricably linked. For the most part mathematics is logical and makes sense. I mean, it is illogical if a mathematical formula doesn't make sense. But what is the point of a mathematics that doesn't make sense.

So I am thinking, the philosophy of mathematics is a philosophy that ferrets out logic, common sense and natural laws that pertain to human existence and behavior. However, that logic, that common sense or those natural laws are not easily detectable or visible to the naked eye, hence the need for this philosophy to make sense of it.

What makes the philosophy of mathematics different from its science counterpart is that it doesn't have formulas to support the arguments it makes. Its formulas are more like intuitions. For instance, the axiom "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" makes perfect sense and is logical. However, there is no tangible, mathematical formula that can be written to support that or prove it to others. It is an abstraction. Yet, the majority know it to be true, instinctively. The is no tangible formula for it. Nevertheless, the formula exists in our mind.

Gravity is interest, found both in the physical world and in human nature. The difference is that gravity in physics can be shown in a mathematical formula. The gravity relating to human behavior cannot be formulated because it is only sensed and intuitive. There is a saying, what goes up must come down. We know that's true also in human behavior but you can't show it in a formula like one can with gravity in science. We know that if human behavior gets too out of whack there will be negative consequences. But we can't formulate it like scientists can when things go out of whack in the physical world. Instead we formulate it through philosophy.